Panchkula: Mechanised sweeping of roads is set to roll out across all 20 wards of the city as the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) has invited a request for proposal (RFP) to select an agency for a combined mechanised and manual sweeping project valued at ₹18.7 crore over five years.The contract, which is extendable by two years, will be awarded to the lowest-bidding firm meeting prescribed norms. Under the fresh tender, the newly appointed agency will operate three additional self-propelled vacuum sweeping machines alongside the two existing MC-owned vehicles, taking over all sweeping operations afresh following previous failed attempts to finalise an operator.The mechanised vehicles—equipped with water-sprinkling nozzles for dust suppression, automatic dumping mechanisms, night-vision CCTV cameras, and GPS tagging—will cover major A and B category roads along sector perimeters. Internal sector roads (C roads) will continue to be swept manually. Although A roads fall under the Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA), sanitation remains the civic body’s responsibility.To ensure transparency and real-time monitoring, the corporation plans to integrate vehicle sensors with a comprehensive software application and form a citizen supervisory committee. “Any local resident who has stake in any of these works and wishes to be a member of the citizen supervisory committee for supervision of the execution of works on the ground, may submit their willingness giving name, address, academic qualification, professional experience and contact phone number to the executive engineer,” stated the MC’s official note.Official proposals outline that the initiative aims to build an efficient, dust-free cleaning framework, improve public health and air quality, optimize labor productivity, and ensure swift redressal of grievances via GIS tracking.
